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ACTIVITIES FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2017

KALAKSHETRA FOUNDATION, CHENNAI

A) Rukmini Devi College of fine arts

1. Lectures and Workshops

2.

Lectures/topic Held on Conducted by

“KANNU SADAKAM”

(Kathakali Eye exercise)

from 03.03.2017 to

10.03.2017

Sri Sadanam

Balakrishnan

Raku Firing workshop from 27th to 29th March,

2017

Sri Arun Mukhuty

ceramic artist from Delhi

3. Mentorship Scheme.

The 13 music mentors who together delivered a total of 32 hours of mentorship are:

Music Mentors

B.Kannan Sangeeta Shivakumar Rama Ravi

Bushany Kalyanaraman Suganda Kalamegam R.S.Jayalakshmi

Charumathy Ramachandran Sundaresan S.Rajeswari

Embar Kannan Sunder Rajan Vasuda Keshav

Tiruchur Narendran

4. Vanamahotsavam: Nurturing life 4 March 7am – 10am

Encouraging social responsibility, Kalakshetra Foundation invited their students,

staff, alumni and the morning walkers to celebrate a morning of tree planting

B) Crafts Education and Research Centre

Showroom Sales

Kalamkari Rs. 1,31,055

Weaving Rs. 1,02,496

TOTAL Rs. 2,33,551

Audience impact: 8200

1000 – Art festival

1200 - Dhrupad Festival

400 – Vastra Smaranam

400 - Celebrating Thailand

1500 - CERC exhibition

3000 – Performance exam

300 - ICCR- Khazakasthan

400 - Vahanas

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Other revenue:

Visitors fees is Rs. 18,200

H.P. Course fees: Rs.1000

Job Order fees: Rs.7,875

CERC workshops:

Preservation and revival of dyeing arts and lost tradition is the focus of the skill

development workshops conducted at the Craft Education and Research Centre,

weaving and Kalamkari unit at Kalakshetra Foundation.

1. Natural dyes for cotton by Mr. Saleem (Natural Dye expert, Hyderabad) for women

from the Bhavani Chethna Sangham, Timbaktu March 6 - 10

2. Traditional weaving techniques workshop by Mr. Harekrishna (graph making

expert & trainer, Kanchipuram) for CERC weavers. February 17 to March 22.

Revival of Rukmini Devi’s sarees

In a process to recall the aesthetics of Kalakshetra sarees, 15 Kalakshetra sarees have

been revived by the Weaving Department at CERC. Sharing of these evergreen

classics will be launched with an inaugral performance by Justin on March 7 which

will be followed by a 10 day exhibition at the weaving center.

7 March * 6pm * Performance by

Justin McCarthy and Stella Subbiah

@ Padma Pushkarani

15 – 25 March * Exhibition of

revival sarees at CERC Weaving

department

CERC Hiring:

1. CERC Exhibition hall hired for 9 & 10 March by IIT Madras Workshop.

2. CERC Ground Hired by M/s. Orissa Arts & Crafts from 17 to 26 March.

3. CERC Exhibition Hall hired by M/s. Co-optex, The Tamilnadu Handloom

Weavers’ Co-operative Society Limited. From 27 to 31 March.

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C) Museum

Measured and described 40 accessions (41 objects) of lot 04, photographs of Smt.

Rukmini Devi handed over by Smt. Sarada Hoffman.Research was done on some

fiction and non-fiction books of Smt. Shanta Rao Collection. Few artefacts from the

museum were part of the CERC Kalakshetra saris exhibition. Further, when Sruti

publication celebrated an evening in conversation with Kalakshetra alumni, titled,

“Our Kalakshetra Days”, Kalakshetra Foundation had organised a panel from the

museum to provide the back-drop for the event.

D) Library

Total 632 Books have been segregated and Data Entry done in Software. The Books

in the R&D Library are manually checked as per the data available in the database.

E) Theatre

Remembering Rukmini Devi Festival @ Rukmini Arangam

Wednesday 1 March 6 pm Koormavatharam

Thursday 2 March 6pm Vocal Concert by Sri. T.M.Krishna.

This annual festival commemorates Kalakshetra’s founder, Rukmini Devi Arundale.

Dhrupad Festival: 3,4 &5 March, 6.30pm @ Padma Pushkarani

Kalakshetra Foundation in collaboration with Dhrupad Sansthan celebrated

“Dhrupad Utsav” in memory of Late Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar & Ustad Zia

Fariduddin Dagar.

Vastra Smaranam: Revival of

Rukmini Devi’s sarees

7 March * Performance by Justin

McCarthy and Stella Subbiah

As a dance tribute to Rukmini Devi and

her saris for the first time a dance

performance was organised at Padma

Pushkarani.

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Performance exams: 20 -28 March

4 yr and Post Diploma dance students performance exams were conducted at

Rukmini Arangam.

Celebrating Diplomatic Relationships between Kazakhastan and India

25 March * Rukmini Arangam

Kalakshetra Foundation in collaboration with ICCR, presented, Akamaral

Kainazarova, an Alumini of Kalakshetra to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the

establishment of Diplomatic relations between India and Kazakhstan and 10th

Anniversary of Establishment of Centre for Indian Classical Dances, Almaty.

Vahanas: The Path to Moksha 29 March * 6.30pm * Rukmini Arangam

Based on his book, Temple Vahanas of Tamil Nadu, Pradeep Chakravarthy gave a

presentation on Vahanas which was followed by a performance by Kalakshetra

Foundation.

E) Repertory Company

Remembering Rukmini Devi Festival @ Rukmini Arangam

Wednesday 1 March 6 pm Koormavatharam

Celebrating 70 years of Diplomatic reltionship with Thailand

14 March, 8pm @ Venkatta Subba Rao Concert Hall

Kalakshetra Foundation in collaboration dancers from Thailand celebrate the 70th

anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Thailand and India by an evening

of dance showcase.

CERC Exhibition inauguration:

Dance and music students of Kalakshetra Foundation performed at the inauguration

of the CERC exhibition on 15 March.

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Vahanas: The Path to

Moksha 29 March *

Rukmini Arangam

Vahanas was a new choreography by

Sri. K.P.Rakesh, Kalakshetra faculty,

that is based on the mount which

carries a Hindu deity. With a focus on

mythology and its social reflection,

Kalakshetra hopes to further develop

this concept into a possible

production in the future.

F) Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School

Activities:

3: Tiny toddlers Day was celebrated for the Montessori students.

Mrs. Chandra Chandrasekar of Hindu Senior Secondary School was the Chief Guest.

4: Farmcil, the pencil with seeds was introduced to the staff and students to

encourage sensitivity to environment.

15: MR vaccine was administered to students at school as suggested by the

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the Universal Immunization

Programme on the same day.

15: Mathematics model making competition at Stella Matutina college of

education.

School matters:

From 9 March exams for 10 and 12 standards at Hindu Senior Secondary School.

18 March: Entrance exams for admission to classes III to IX

23 March: Admission results declared.

31 March: Results for Summative Assessment II for classes VI to IX and Evaluation

III for classes II to V were declared

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H) Besant Theosophical Higher Secondary School

School matters: XII Public Examination commenced on 2 March and ended on 31 March.

XI Examination commenced on 8 March and went on till 30 March.

Science Practical Examination for IX Std. was conducted on 25 March.

Class work note and project inspection for Class I to IX on 27 March.

Plus Two portions started for Plus One students on 31March and will continue till 13

April.

Media Coverage

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Kalakshetra to recreate saris of Rukmini Devi

Published: Mar 17,201707:00 AM by Tuba

Raqshan

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Kalakshetra to recreate saris of

Rukmini Devi

The original Kalakshetra sari, with its distinct green and oil mustard yellow hues, made famous by Rukmini Devi Arundale, the founder of Kalakshetra Foundation (KF), has been lost over time.

Chennai:

Now, the institution has constituted an advisory board, which has sourced master

weavers, craftsmen and textile experts to re-visit the traditional version of the sari,

using techniques prominent almost a century ago.

Priyadarsini Govind, Director of KF, said that the institution is in the process of

documenting its oral history. “Revisiting the Kalakshetra sari followed as a natural

choice. From the moment I came into Kalakshetra Foundation as Director, Rukmini

Devi’s attention to detail and her aesthetics sense have fascinated me to the point of

obsession. With the concurrence of the Governing Board of KF, we constituted the

advisory and executive committees for the craft centre to create a blue print for the

centre and aid in its implementation,” she said.

“The process started last year with a panel discussion on the sari during the

Remembering Rukmini Devi Festival. We then invited some of the senior alumni and

weavers for a discussion to go into what constitutes ‘the Kalakshetra Sari’. We have

had a series of dying workshops, training in weaving techniques etc. for this process.

This is an ongoing quest and it is an early but a very important milestone,” added the

renowned dancer.

Visualised from memories from a cross section of people at Kalakshetra and in the

weaving communities, and resourced by the advisory board, the weavers have

worked hard to create the recent set of fifteen saris. These saris are being showcased

as a part of an exhibition titled ‘Inspired Revisit’, at the institution’s Craft Education

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and Research Centre till March 25. Ranvir Shah, the curator of the exhibition, clearly

stated that this is neither a reproduction nor a revival of the Kalakshetra sari.

S Ulaganathan (37), a master craftsman from Kancheepuram, said it took hours of

experimentation in the laboratory, to arrive at the perfect ‘mustard yellow’ colour,

which is one of the signature features of Kalakshetra saris. “The original saris used a

German colour. We experimented in the laboratory to arrive at a dye, that matched

the original. Then, we ordered it in bulk and went about the design process. Bamboo

reeds were used to build the design. We had to recreate the reed for this procedure.

The Korvai, a complex technique, is used to interlace the borders with the body of the

sari and is done by two weavers, while the dying process needs two more people,”

added the craftsman.

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Annexure 1: CERC workshop :

Preservation and revival of dyeing arts and lost tradition is the focus of the skill

development workshops conducted at the Craft Education and Research Centre,

weaving and Kalamkari unit at Kalakshetra Foundation.

Project Summary

This project proposes to skill weavers & dyers in the Kalakshetra style of weaving,

dyeing and aesthetics, to meet current market standards in an attempt to revitalize

and keep alive these techniques within the new contexts and standards of production

and markets. It is also aimed at bringing in recognition for weavers for their skills

and validation of their expertise.

Project objective

The project aims at revival of the old techniques of pre loom and weaving of korvai

and adai which is now being lost to new production methods of catch cards and

jacquards. Through this revival of the Kalakshetra sari, the objective will also to be

able to bring recognition and validation of weavers skill and expertise, leading to

revitalizing livelihoods.

Why this project is needed:

In the current situation, given the demand for the Kalakshetra sarees, it is proposed

to skill weavers in the techniques, with due respect to the heritage, while recognising

the new contexts of production that require new standards of production – in dyeing

fastness, and new conditions of market, where weaving techniques that use catch

card, rather than the traditional korvai, and so on are more popular with weavers.

Skill development in design & techniques of dyeing & weaving of the Kalakshetra Korvai Saris - Craft Education and Research Centre (CERC), Kalakshetra Foundation Funded by TVS Upasana Limited Over the years, the Craft Education and Research Centre (CERC) at Kalakshetra has

served as an important repository of traditional craft methodology: hosting, training

and encouraging artisans in various ways. As part of a project funded by TVS

Upasana Limited, the CERC hosted workshops to skill dyers and weavers, from the

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CERC as well as elsewhere, in the Kalakshetra style of dyeing, weaving and aesthetics

as part of a larger initiative to revive the Kalakshetra sari. These workshops are led by

master artisans and trainers with expertise in different traditional techniques.

The following workshops were conducted at the CERC:

1. Chemical dye and colour testing workshop by Mr. Krishnamurthy (Dyeing expert,

Retired, Weavers Service Centre) for CERC and other weavers

2. Natural dyes for silk workshop by Ms. Jagada Rajappa (Natural dyeing resource

person, Hyderabad) for CERC weavers and dyers

3. Natural dyes for cotton by Mr. Saleem (Natural Dye expert, Hyderabad) for

women from the Bhavani Chethna Sangham, Timbaktu

4. Traditional weaving techniques workshop by Mr. Harekrishna (graph making

expert & trainer, Kanchipuram) for CERC weavers.

The dyeing workshops have helped weavers, at the CERC and from elsewhere,

understand and be part of pre-loom processes that were previously inaccessible to

them. As a result of this project, dyers are also now able to dye and test colours in a

systematic fashion while the weavers are now able to engage in the pre-loom

processes as well. The weaving workshop helped weavers, who are now accustomed

to modern catch card and jacquard techniques to learn traditional patterning with

adai. These traditional methods are being quickly lost along with their characteristic

motifs and patterns. As a result of these workshops, participants are now able to use

these techniques to design and weave saris of historical and traditional significance.

This project also contributed to the ongoing revival of the Kalakshetra sari: over the

course of this project, weavers at the CERC have re-created 15 saris from Rukmini

Devi's collection, which culminated in a 10-day exhibition that was greatly

appreciated by artisans and sari lovers alike.

Annexure 2: Exhibition Curatorial Note by Ranvir Shah In 1936 Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale, established the College of Fine Arts, to teach

Bharatanatyam. A year later, she set up looms in the Kalakshetra campus to produce

saris and fabrics for the students to use for their improved life choice. The

Kalakshetra Sari reaffirms the Kalakshetra ethos of arts and culture over time.

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Through her lifetime, her engagement with fabrics in the field of Kanchipuram silk as

well as cotton saris was a constant. It denoted certain elements of

balance, color symmetry and an aesthetic that was as much hers as of those she

worked with in this area such as the master-weavers, artists, and women who loved

and patronized the Kalakshetra sari. Over the years the Kalakshetra sari has been co-

opted and re-interpreted by many different weaving houses, as well as the

Government run Co-optex, for their own versions.

The project of re-looking at the old techniques of pre-loom and weaving

of korvai and adai which is now being lost to new production methods of catch cards

and jacquards was the aim of this project. The objective was to bring recognition and

validation as well as skilling a new generation of weavers in the art of the Kalakshetra

sari. It proposes for skilled weavers and dyers to work and re-create the original

Kalakshetra style of weaving, dyeing, and aesthetics and yet aims to converge with

current market realities.

This allows keeping alive this technique within contemporary contexts and standards

of production, while promising livelihoods to the weavers.

A few remnants of original sarees passed through time provided the inspiration.

Trainers from Kanchipuram as well as resource people from the craft sector such as

master craftsperson Velu, dyer Salim, expert trainers Krishnamurthy and Smt.

Jagada Rajappa aided this process. Visualized from memories from a cross section of

people at Kalakshetra and in the weaving communities, and resourced by the

advisory board constituted by the director Priyadarsini Govind to revive the saris, the

weavers have worked hard to create the recent set of fifteen saris.

Over time and due to a minimal archival references, we have lost the original

Kalakshetra green and yellow of oil mustard which was said to have been special in

its colour tones due to the process of dipping in oil. Dye-stuffs available in the 40’s

versus what is available now, the quality of the yarn, the way it is spun and many

other technical details of that past have been lost due to the pressures of our recent

commercial times. In this “inspired re-visit” the project is a journey. This is a

milestone where we can share the work done over the past one year, but it is only an

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early milestone. The hope and wish are that this exhibition will allow for people who

have memories, connections, advice to come and engage with the project and the

Centre so that all of this can be assimilated in an ongoing process. Three looms were

functional when this project was started and now all fifteen of them are in

production, making the workshop again a vibrant place producing objects of beauty.

Regular workshops have been conducted on vegetable dyeing and designing. We are

now again able to take your orders for the designs renewed up until now, in turn, we

welcome you to introduce them back into the world of good taste.

Tradition is never a fixed force - it changes and absorbs newer elements as it moves

along various timelines. Strangely, though our traditional concept of circular time

allows things to be repeated and come full circle.

This is the first attempt. Please leave us your ideas, suggestions, comments and

criticism, so that we carry forth on this path better informed and inspired.

In Rukmini Devi’s words – “I realize how a small beginning when imbued with

devotion, love, and imagination can start a stream of influence”.

Today’s sari wearers do not have the luxury of hand-washing the saris regularly and

wearing them on a daily basis. The realities of the transformed and empowered new

Indian Woman, need to converge with this wondrous tradition in a manner that can

be celebrated, in viewing these saris once more as an integral part of their lives and

not just as a costume of style.

We are deeply grateful to Mrs.Usha Krishna for having understood the relevance of

this project and generously supporting it. The team of trainers as well as the CERC

staffs lead by Mr. Ramachandran and Foreman Sri. Ulaganathan have been a

tremendous source of energy and devotion on this adventure.

Revisiting, re-engaging, re-living – allows one to re-energize and re-look at a

traditional aesthetic in a way that we can truly call ours – that of our times and of our

reality and finally also of our aesthetic dreams.